Spring dampener or cushion



Jan. A15, 1935. J. sJoLANDER SPRING DAMPENER 0R CUSHION Filed Nov. 1o, 1933 Patented Jan. 15, 1935 PATENT OFFICE SPRING DAMPENEB. B. CUSHION John L. Siolander, Cleveland, Ohio, assigner to The Cleveland Wire Chio Spring Co., Cleveland,

ApplicationvNovember 10, 1933, Serial No. 697,505

Claims.

My invention relates to spring dampeners or cushions and has for its general object to provide effective means for diminishing the vibrations of and eliminating the surge from coil springs, and

5 more particularly the coil springs for intake and exhaust valves of present day high speed internal combustion engines, wherein the valve oscillations are very rapid. Y

A further object of the invention is to provide a spring dampener of sturdy economical construction which can readily and easily be applied to 'and coupled with one end of a spring.

' A still further object of the invention is to provide a yielding spring dampener in the form of a bushing adapted to be inserted within the upper end of a spring to effect differentially increased yielding dampening of the recoil of such spring.

The invention consists, generally speaking, of a split cylinder member provided with yielding finger members adapted to be inserted into and engaged by the valve spring with retarding or dampening frictional effect on the recoil stroke of the spring, thus insuring proper seating of the valve, and the elimination of the highly objectionable noise and wear caused by floating and hammering of the valve.

When read in connection with the description herein, the details of construction and arrangement of parts contemplated by the invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, wherein an embodiment of the invention is disclosed for purposes of illustration.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a side view of the invention mounted on and extended into the coil spring of a valve;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view through Figure 1, partly broken away showing the spring in extended position when seating the valve;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 the spring being shown under compression;

Figure 4 is a side view of the dampener;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the dampener; and

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view on line 6-6 of Figure 4, showing the diiferent width of the finger portions of the dampener to effect balanced dampening action of a spring.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated 1 denotes a coiled valve spring for the inlet or exhaust valve 2 of an internal combustion engine or the like, which valve is shown mounted in a conventional manner in the engine block 3. The spring 1, which is preferably made of heavy wire stock, is sleeved over the valve stem 4 and bearing or bushing 5, and is confined between the seat 6 in the block 3 and a plate 7, in turn fixed to the valve stem in any suitable manner. Plate 'l ispreferably formed with an upwardly projecting truncated conical portion which seats within the lower convolutions of the spring and prevents lateral or sidewise movement of the latter. n

In the embodiment shown spring 1 is slightly conical, that is the diameters of its convolutions gradually decrease from the base or bottom to the top thereof, but may of course be made straight with convolutions of equal diameters. Due to the relatively high speeds at which modern engines run considerable difculty has been encountered in designing valve springs which would eliminate floating and insure aproper seating of the valves. This is according to the present invention accomplished by the provision of a cylindrically shaped dampening member 8, which is extended into the upper end of the spring 1. y Member 8 is preferably -made of spring sheet metal, is split up on one side, and is normally of larger diameter than the inside diameter of the convolutions of spring 1, so that it may be compressed and inserted within the coil. During assembly the dampener is compressed until the opposing edges 9, 9', of the split closely approach each other and is then inserted in the upper end of the spring 1. The length of the dampener is preferably approximately one fourth to one half A of the height of the spring Aso that it exerts a controlling influence over a plurality of convolutions of the spring. Moreover, the member 8, by virtue of its own resiliency tends to expand and exert a constant frictional pressure on the spring when it is expanding and contracting in use and thus overcomes and/or diminishes the vibration .of the spring and by dampening action reduces the number of vibrations of the spring. A'I'he resiliency of the member 8 is increased by subdividing the enlarged body portion 10 thereof extending downwardly from the restricted bearing engaging portion 11 of the dampener. Thus the circumferential wall of member 8 is slotted to form a series of yielding'ngers 14 each of which is preferably tapered toward its free end to increase the resiliency thereof. The iingers 14 are also slightly expanded. to insure sufficient pressure of the fingers against the convolutions o f the spring and eect equal pressure upon the convolutions. This is important for balanced dampening action on a spring. The lower portions of the iingers are slightly bent inwardly as at 15 to prevent the ends 16 of said lingers from cutting the spring.

Preferably as shown the two opposing nngers 14 are somewhat less in width than theadjacent opens up and is contracted during the compression and the extension of the spring.

The dampener 8, which is preferably mounted within and upon the upper end of the spring 1, that portion subject to the greatest surging action, is prevented from dropping down towards the base of the spring. To that enect the end wall of the top portion 11 of the dampener isA bent outwardly to form a circumferential flange 17 adapted to seat upon the upper end of the spring l. Flange 17 is radially slotted as at 18 to partially overcome the normal stiil'ening action thereof and these slots are preferably aligned with the fingers and intermediate the cut out portions or slots between the fingers, to avoid material decrease of the inherent elasticity of the dampener.

The only movements of the dampener are those slight expansion and contraction movements caused during oscillations of the spring 1. 'Ihe dampener is therefore always held in working portion on that portion of the spring subject to the greatest vibrational and surging stress.

Having thus described my invention:

What I claim is:

l. In a spring dampener, the combination with a coil spring, of a split bushing of resilient sheet materialhaving its upper end flanged and including a circumferentialiy enlarged portion, spaced from the upper anged end of said bushing and a plurality of yielding fingers extending downwardly and outwardly from said portion and adapted to frictionaliy engage a plurality of the convolutions of said spring.

2. In a spring dampener, the combination with a coil spring, of a split bushing of resilient sheet material having its upper end flanged and including a circumferentially lenlarged portion and a plurality of yielding tapered fingers of decreasing width toward their ends extending downwardly and slightly outwardly from said portion for yieldable frictional engagement with a plurality of the convolutions of said spring.

3. In a spring dampener, the combination with a coil spring, of a ang'ed split bushing of resilient sheet material including a circumferentially enlarged portion and a plurality of yielding fingers extending downwardly and outwardly from said portion and adapted to frictionally engage a plurality of the convolutions of said spring, the ange of said bushing being radially split to decrease the stiil'ening action thereof.

4. In a spring dampener, the combination with a coil spring of a flanged split bushing of resilient material adapted to be extended into a spring and rest with its flange upon the top coil thereof, said bushing including a plurality of tapered yielding finger portions differentially sized with respect to eachrother and extending downwardly and slightly outwardly with respect to the wall of said bushing forfrictional engagement with a plurality of the convolutions of said spring.

5. In a spring dampener, the combination with a coil spring of a ilanged split bushing of resilient material adapted to be extended into a spring and rest with its iiange upon the top coil thereof, said bushing including a plurality of tapered yielding ilnger portions extending downwardly and slightly outwardly with respect to the wall of said bushing and adapted to frictionally engage a plurality of the convolutions of said spring, the width of the fingers adjacent to the split of said bushing being smaller than the width of the other of said fingers, to effect a balanced dampening action of said bushing upon a spring having said bushing extended thereinto.

JOHN L. SJOLANDER. 

